Van type vehicles are used for transporting cargo that needs to be protected from the elements as well as cargo that needs to be secured to prevent pilferage. Normally cargo vans have one or more rear doors that open substantially the entire rear wall for receiving and discharging cargo. These vans can receive palletized cargo, boxed cargo, containers or loose cargo. However, they are generally not suitable for transporting heavy elongated articles.
Heavy elongated articles are generally transported on flatbed vehicles or vehicles with an open top. The open top allows heavy elongated articles to be loaded and unloaded with cranes where suitable cranes are available. Some protection from the elements can be provided by canvas covers on flatbed vehicles and on vans with open tops. In situations where cranes are not available, the usual method of unloading elongated articles from a flatbed vehicle is with a forklift. Forklifts with adequate size, that are equipped for rough terrain use, can unload elongated cargo from flatbed trucks or trailers at construction sites and other locations. Forklifts are generally not capable of lifting and unloading elongated cargo from cargo vans.
Cargo, such as conduit pipe used by electricians and plastic pipe and copper pipe used by plumbers, is generally banded together in bundles that are up to about four feet wide, as long as the pipes and any desired height. These elongated bundles can be loaded and unloaded from flatbed vehicles with forklifts. However, very few construction sites need a truck or trailer load of such pipe at one time. Plumbers and electricians also need supplies such as wire, switches, couplings, valves and solder that come in cardboard boxes. These parts and the boxes must be kept dry. The usual procedure employed to protect such parts from moisture is to transport them in enclosed vans.
There are two common alternative systems for delivering cargo that includes elongated items and other items that are to be kept dry. The elongated articles can be delivered by a flatbed vehicle and the other cargo can be delivered in an enclosed van or the bundles of pipe or other elongated cargo can be broken apart for manual loading and unloading. Both of these alternatives substantially increase the cost of delivering the cargo suggested above and other related cargo to construction sites. cargo vans and semi-trailers are available that have an enclosed front portion and a flatbed rear portion. These units can protect the cargo that requires a dry enclosure and simultaneously transport elongated articles that can be loaded on and unloaded from the side of the flatbed portion. The major drawback of these cargo transporters is that they tend to be longer than required. The extra length may complicate movement into and around construction areas. Another drawback is that in many cases such transporters will be only partially loaded.
A less common system for delivering general cargo is to use a van with soft sides. The soft sides are a canvas type material with reinforcement. Different arrangements are provided for opening the soft side of a cargo van. Some of these systems open the side for loading and unloading cargo including elongated cargo. The cargo transported in vans with soft sides must be secured to the van floor to hold it away from the canvas material. Securing cargo to a van floor can be difficult and time consuming.